Leaving the grid-The effect of combining home energy storage with renewable energy generation

Household renewable energy generation through the use of solar panels is becoming more commonplace as the installation cost is reducing and electricity prices are rising. Solar energy is an intermittent source, only generated during the day subject to interference from weather and seasonal variation. Energy storage solutions such as Lithium Ion batteries are also reducing is cost and have become a viable solution for storing the solar energy generated for use at other times. In this paper we discuss the feasibility and limitations of various renewable energy, energy storage, feed into grid and off the grid systems. We also explore the results of our case study, The University of Western Australia's Future Farm, which featured a 10 kW solar system with 20 kWh battery storage, off the grid. Finally we use West Australians daily energy usage information to model the energy and savings of installing solar panels, home energy storage and using an electric vehicle. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.